The 10th Swogger Literary Salon was held at Collins House on April 14, 2026. This literary salon was presented by Dr. Sara Crump as she spoke about the life and legacy of Julia Child. The Swogger Literary Salon series has seen significant growth over
the years, and the 10th anniversary of the Literary Salon will be celebrated this upcoming fall. Crump started her presentation by quoting Child, saying that “people who love to eat are always the best kind of people.” After this, Crump transitioned into Child’s early life.
“It wasn’t until she was about in her late 40s and early 50s that she began to cook” she said.
Child’s goal was to educate people and make French cooking more accessible to everyone. It wasn’t until she attended Le Cordon Bleu, that her cooking career started taking off, In fact, she never learned how to cook until her husband, Paul Child, and she
lived in France. When they moved to America, Child was invited to WGBH’s show “I’ve Been Reading” where she made an omelette, starting her television cooking career in America. While she was filming, she captivated audiences:
“she made this omelette while talking about her [cook]book and staring into the camera and laughing madly… whisking everything up and turning it over and looking triumphant all at once,” Crump said.
This energy, unpolished yet captivating, set her apart from other cooking personalities at the time because Julia embraced authenticity. Crump emphasized that many viewers connected with her because “it seemed like she was talking to you.”
Julia’s success on WGBH led to her launching “The French Chef ”, a show that “redefined cooking” for TV in America. Despite the limited budget and resources the show had, her charisma carried the production. Child used “The French Chef ” to introduce French foods and techniques to an American audience that was inspired to try something new and not be intimidated by cooking.
Julia gave a lot of credit to her husband Paul, who constantly supported her through trying new dishes, being on set to hand
her what she needed, and encouraging her to chase her career. On “The French Chef,” “she would leave the mistakes in her shows, since each show was filmed once, yet she would show you how to work with the mistake,” said Crump.
This showed those watching at home that errors in the kitchen happen, and she demonstrated how to correct them. Crump also shared the saying that Julia Child lived by in the kitchen: “When you flip anything, you really just have to have the courage of your convictions, particularly if it’s sort of loose mass like this.”
This was later proved in Child’s attempt to flip a potato dish and part of it fell apart, but her response was simply, “I guess I didn’t have enough courage.”
Moments like this shaped Julia and her audience’s beliefs that cooking should be approachable and forgiving. Child would go on to say, “One of the secrets and pleasures of cooking is to learn to correct something if it goes awry.”
While in France, Child and her colleague Simone Beck began co-writing cookbooks together, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Volumes 1 & 2)”, the recipes inspired by Child’s favorite French dishes. On “The French Chef ” Julia, would break down
the techniques used and the logic behind them.
At the end of every show, Child was famously known for pairing her dish with a glass of wine, which shocked Americans, but reflected a common French cultural norm. Crump also explained that Julia Child had a significant impact on Americans with her cooking. Many grocery stores would make sure they had the ingredients for each new episode so that customers would be able to cook alongside her each week.
Crump ended the night with a toast to Julia Child: “May you, like Julia, do what you love, surrounded by the people that you love, all while eating the food that you love. Bon appétit.”
